Moscow:
Fugitive former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden has received refugee status in Russia, WikiLeaks said.
"Edward Snowden has successfully acquired refugee status in Russia and will shortly leave the airport," the anti-secrecy organization said on Twitter.
RIA news agency quoted Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer assisting Snowden, as saying the 30-year-old got temporary asylum status for a year.
"Snowden has left Sheremetyevo airport. He has just beengiven a certificate that he has been awarded temporary asylumin Russia for one year," his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told agencies.
An airport spokeswoman said he had left within the last two hours.
